Sort of crazy

I run.

I'm not a "runner", however.  I reserve that title for people who run marathons or more than 10 miles in a day, VOLUNTARILY.  There's a big difference.  Something snaps, in the psyche of a person who runs, and they become a runner...I don't understand it, nor do I want to.  I just know they're different. And I can't decide if I admire them or fear them. 

Anyway, this morning, I discovered that I've become one of those crazy people who runs in all sorts of awful weather.  You know them.  You see them bullheadedly chugging along in sleet, rain, snow...whatever wretched conditions....as you sit in your car with the heated seats up to their highest level, and you think, "Has she never heard of a treadmill? Hello! Man, NO-ONE could pay me enough to do that..."  (And I can say this, because I DID that, once.  And almost pulled over to give them a ride, thinking they were too stupid to know better...like some sort of athletic chicken.)

Running hurts, I won't lie to you.  It stops hurting if you stick with it and becomes pretty darn uncomfortable.  Then, if you really, really keep going, it feels so good that you think you could run forever. (I believe this is where the runners snap.)  But when you stop, it's gonna go back to pretty darn uncomfortable.  And sometimes, in the middle of the night, when a cramp grabs your arch, it hurts again.  Or if you haven't run for a couple days...that can hurt.

I'm at the point of HAVING to run, almost daily....it's compulsive.  My brain gets all folded in on itself, like a note from one Jr.high girl to another. My body gets hungry for the motion, and I get a feeling of restlessness, twitchy legs. And the treadmill is better than nothing, but it doesn't clean out the soul and free up the mind like running in fresh air.

This morning, when I was running with my head into the wind, eyes and nose streaming from the cold, ice crystals on my eyelashes from the moisture in the air, legs churning in the packed snow of the road and making dreadful time, I realized I had become one of those crazy people.  What's worse is that I LIKED it. I had actually thanked my husband for plowing out the road, not so I could get the car out, but so that I could run! 

If you see me this winter along the county road, it's okay to make eye contact.  This sort of crazy won't rub off.